Girl of Lightning
by RogueTempest
Summary: Mai Yukimura was from an enemy village to Konoha. The Village Hidden in the Clouds didn't get along with the Village Hidden in the Leaves so would she be able to convince them that they were in trouble when they all seem to suspect her. Your enemy's enemy is your friend but does this overrule them being your enemy to begin with?
1. 1 - Konoha

**Disclaimer: I don't own 'Naruto' or any of its characters, only my own OCs, this goes for the whole story.**

* * *

Hopefully her sensei wouldn't find her here.

Mai was sitting comfortable at the top of some mountain with a bunch of faces on it. It must have some significance to the people in this village but being an outsider she didn't know or really care about it. The view was nice nonetheless. So long as sensei didn't track her down and appear out of nowhere again it would stay that way as well, maybe she would even be able to watch the sunset as well.

"What do we have here?"

Maybe.

Mai was currently lying on her back with arms behind her head and eyes closed. At the sound of the unfamiliar male voice she opened one eye but since she still couldn't see who the person was and it wasn't her sensei or teammates she went back to both of her eyes being closed and mostly ignoring the world but for the feel of the sun on her face.

"It's rude to ignore people child,"

"It's rude to not introduce yourself. Why should I talk to you if I don't even know who you are? My mum always said not to talk to strangers anyway,"

There was a deep, gentle chuckle from above her head and when she opened her eye again she got a clear view of who could only be the Hokage of this village. She didn't even blink.

Noticing that the young girl was now looking at him he felt it unnecessary to introduce himself but after a few silent seconds of the girl clearly still wanting a proper introduction he obliged.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves,"

"Mai Yukimura. Genin of the Village Hidden in the Clouds,"

After this Mai proceeded too close her eye again and wait for another question from the old man. Before she closed her eye fully she caught sight of a smile on the Hokage's face. Obviously she wasn't going to get into trouble for being up here or he would have said something by now and wouldn't be smiling.

"What are you doing up here child?"

"Just relaxing and hiding from my sensei,"

"Why would you be doing that?"

"I need to relax every once and awhile,"

After a bit more silence Mai relented and answered the main question.

"My team is here for the Chunin Exam and our sensei wants us to train but I don't want to,"

"Why is that? You shouldn't slack off on your training, especially with something that big coming up,"

"We've been travelling for days and only got here a few hours ago. I apologise if wanting some rest is a crime here. It always has been for my sensei,"

"No, no, nothing like that,"

"Cool,"

The two went back into more silence that was, to Mai's surprise, not uncomfortable. It wasn't until the sun started to set that the Hokage gently nudged the young girl's shoulder with his foot so that she would open her eyes and be able to enjoy the array of colours cast by the changing light in the sky from her very advantageous position atop the mountain. Still no words needed to be said but once the sun was only a sliver above the village Mai was politely asked to return to her temporary accommodation for the night. She said her farewell and went without any hassle. The shinobi and villagers of Konoha probably wouldn't want shinobi, even genin, from other villages, especially those more enemy then friend, to be wandering around after dark. Mai understood this and didn't mind being told to go by the polite old man. The only thing she was reluctant about was getting another lecture from her sensei about avoiding training and being lazy and being a disappointment to the village and so on and so forth.

Fun.

Another reason she had to leave soon was that her oh so 'beloved' sensei also had imposed a curfew on his oh so 'lovely' students, Mai in particular. She knew that if she was even a second later then the complete darkness of night then she would be forced to do a whole lot more training then what she had skipped today. With this in mind Mai got to her feet, bowed to the elderly Sarutobi and then ran off the top of the mountain into the air above the village. Without blinking, flinching or missing a beat from her action she then proceeded to gather chakra all around her body which then started forming into specifically lightning chakra. Once her figure was completely encased in blue crackling light Mai disappeared in a flash of light to suddenly find herself in the living room of the apartment that was allocated to her team. The rest of her team was gathered in the room but one look at her sensei and she was once again gathering her lightning chakra, but this time in only in her legs, so that she could quickly escape the wrath of her volatile teacher.

"Mai!"

She knew it was childish and not the most intelligent thing she could have done in that situation but with her speed enhanced she bolted for the bathroom and put her back against the door once she had slammed it shut. She vainly hoped that her sensei wouldn't enter purely because it's a rude thing to do. However it was obvious what she was doing and that she wasn't in the bathroom for privacy and so with an effortless push from the adult he was able to easily make his way into the bathroom to find his troublesome student sitting on the floor after being thrown there from the force of him opening the door.

"Where were you?!"

"Sightseeing,"

"Don't give me that attitude Yukimura!"

"Make me Fujita,"

This then turned into a game of 'catch me if you can' and smart remarks while the two teammates correctly decided from experience that the safest thing for them to do in these situations was to stay as far away and out of it as possible. After harsh words and promises to make training hell for the girl the next day the dangerous game ended. Mai quickly ate and went to sleep so as not to be forced to spend any more time with her despicable sensei. Her two teammates Kazuki and Honoka were less hated by their sensei, Hiroto. Mai purposefully caused and took the anger and wrath of the loathed teacher so as to spare her teammates. If Hiroto Sensei spent most of his time hating her then he wouldn't have much time remaining to go after Kazuki and Honoka. It wasn't perfect but she felt it was her responsibility as she had been the one to request Hiroto as their sensei anyway. That was another story. It was involved with what she felt was one of her only goals and reasons in life. Another long and tedious backstory. That would just have to wait until later.

* * *

The next morning came with the dreadful prospect of having to face whatever torture Hiroto Sensei had dreamt up the night before as punishment. He may not have counted on the fact that he would have to spend most of the day tracking down and capturing the troublesome girl first. When the team had first woken up it was a docile morning with both students and teacher playing nicely and so breakfast went by with no problems. It wasn't until everyone had eaten, showered, gotten changed and all round gotten ready for the day that Mai started another game of 'catch me if you can and good luck trying to find me'. This game had almost become a routine back home between Mai and Hiroto with the other two sometimes joining in as well. Basically Mai, Kazuki and Honoka didn't want to be around their sensei. They hated him and he hated them. He barely even taught them anything and so they often had to research things for themselves and go through the painful process of trial and error with any new jutsu they chose to learn. The children hardly even exchanged words with the adult and if it wasn't for this inter-village exam they would have continued in this manner.

Anyway, a new village meant new surroundings and new surroundings meant a change-up from the usual game which was always fun.

Hiroto had just entered the dining room of the small apartment after getting ready for the day of punishment when he was notified of the commencement of the game.

A smoke bomb.

"See ya Sensei!"

With that Mai jumped out of the pre-opened window and began racing across the unfamiliar village in search of another hiding place to spend the day doing nothing. Her affinity for lightning would give her a speed advantage against most but given that her sensei was also from the Village Hidden in the Clouds he also had the same affinity. The advantage usually only worked from shinobi from other villages which explained the frightened, curious and confused expressions she received from this village's inhabitants as she gathered lightning in her legs and sped as fast as she could away from her sensei. Mai knew that she would have a little bit of a head start on her sensei with the smoke bomb and the small trap she set up with ninja wire, and her teammates' help, but he was still a Jonin compared to her Genin. Even if she was hopeful to make Chunin it was still a large difference in power.

She had to outsmart her sensei if she had any chance of avoiding her punishment for yesterday. Yes this stunt would most likely get her an even greater and far worse punishment if she was caught but that was only if she was caught and that was not part of any of her numerous plans. Concerning her teammates she had convinced them to stay out of the game this time, mainly because of the new and unfamiliar surroundings as well as their sensei's increased anger because of being in an enemy village. The trap back at the apartment was rigged to slightly injure Kazuki and Honoka, just cuts and bruises, so that Hiroto Sensei would tell them to stay at the apartment as he wouldn't want them to slow him down as he desperately wanted to catch Mai and teach her a lesson. Mai made sure that both her friends were slightly competent in medicine and healing so they wouldn't have any problems if anything happened to her, as she was the team's expert in this area, so she wasn't concerned about their small cuts and injuries. Also without her teammates Hiroto Sensei wouldn't be able to interrogate them about where they may think she would hide. Not that they knew anyway as she was still trying to figure it out herself.

During the fight the previous night Mai had told her sensei that she had been sitting on top of the mountain and so she would have to be very careful and vigilant if she was to go there again. Either way she knew that shouldn't be the first place she went to so she was back to trying to double or triple bluff her sensei by thinking about where she thought he would think she would hide. Yes it is as confusing as it sounds. Back in Kumo Mai would often hide in the environment surrounding the village so that Hiroto couldn't ask the other shinobi for help or information on if they had seen her. Being a different village Mai didn't have to worry about this as it seemed less likely that the shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves would help a shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Her sensei would probably still search for her in the surrounding forest as her village affiliation would make the shinobi of this village suspicious if they saw her running around and hiding too much. This wouldn't be a problem if she just found a quiet spot to lie down that wasn't completely hidden so as not to create unease. There was a lot of forest so Mai could realistically spend most of the day doing nothing before visiting the mountain again or going back to the apartment to see what Kazuki and Honoka were doing. Either way Mai was confident she had this game won. Stay hidden until Hiroto goes into the forest and then find a tree to sleep under for the day. Simple but still produced a headache.

And so Mai Yukimura sped off to the edge of the forest to ensure her sensei would follow her there before finding a hollow trunk, which she had noticed the day before when her team had entered the village but had not told them about the discovery, where she crept inside to wait out her sensei for a short time. In short the idiot fell for the trap and Mai was soon spending her morning beneath a tree in what appeared to be a park. It was enjoyable and relaxing. Just how Mai liked it.

Mai would have been a lot more comfortable if her clothes allowed her to blend in a bit better to her surroundings. Her usual attire consisted of black pants and a grey long sleeved shirt. It was simple and that was the idea. In Kumogakure there was a lot of mountains and so her plain coloured clothing allowed her to almost blend in to the environment. Unless someone was intensively looking for her they were likely to be oblivious to her existence and, more importantly, location. In Konoha the environment was a lot different with the village filled with grass, trees and green. If anything her clothes made her stand out more here if her head band, that she wore around her neck, didn't already do that in the foreign village. It still wasn't much to worry about though, if someone noticed her than the most they would do would be to ask for her reason being in the village and her id. Both of those were simple and given that most of the shinobi in Konoha would be aware of the Chunin Exam they may not even be bothered asking if she wasn't doing anything suspicious or violent. With this train of thought over Mai proceeded to close her eyes and try to find sleep. If the Exam was anything like what she suspected then she would definitely need all the rest she could get.

* * *

It was getting to about midmorning when Mai was woken from her sleep as something else demanded her attention. She felt another presence approaching. Given that she wanted to sleep and still avoid her sensei, Mai used her sensory skills to pick up any advancing chakra signatures. Even if it was her teammates she would still wake up. It was a defence mechanism and worked almost one hundred percent of the time. Mai had yet to enhance her skills to be able to pick up whether the chakra signature was friendly or aggressive while she was asleep but in a foreign village the difference didn't really matter anyway, she had to be on alert around everyone. You would be surprised how many genin tried to sabotage the exam before it began. When the stranger got to the edge of the park and kept closing the distance between them Mai then opened her eye closest to the direction of the other person. As usual she wasn't going to react to anything and show little interest in everything. She would save all of her energy and keep the element of surprise if the stranger suddenly became a threat. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, Mai quite enjoyed this spot and the sleep she was having before.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sleeping,"

The stranger spoke once they had reached her side. Their shadow feel across Mai's face but they stayed far enough away to be respectful and not be viewed as a threat at the moment. Mai was able to get a decent look at the person, even if the sun behind them partially blinded her.

It was a boy about her age and given that there was a head band around his left arm most likely a genin from his village here for the Chunin Exam. On closer inspection Mai deduced that this was his village. His chakra wasn't on edge and felt safe and stable in these surroundings, not skittish or uneasy about being in 'enemy territory'. His question also confirmed this as it would be unusual for an outsider to care about what other outsiders did in a village that wasn't their own.

"You here for the Chunin Exam?"

"Obviously,"

Mai decided to close her eye as the conversation should have been over at this but after a couple of seconds with the shadow still blocking the sun from reaching her face she decided to give in to a little bit of curiosity.

"Am I in your spot?"

"Something like that,"

"Unlucky. I don't plan on moving for a while,"

"How long have you been here?"

"A bit past dawn,"

"Why?"

At this particular question Mai opened her eye again and just looked at the black haired boy beside her. Well she was assuming his hair was a dark colour but the sun was making it a little difficult to be sure at the moment.

"Yeah. None of my business I guess. Do you mind if I join you? This is one of the places I go to relax. I have a feeling my team is at the other one and my mum kicked me out of the house,"

The boy moved his arm to rub the back of his head and Mai noticed that his other hand stayed in his pocket.

"You didn't need to explain why you know,"

Mai closed her eye again and the boy took this as an invitation to lie down next to her. He usually would have leant against the trunk of the tree but didn't want to be perceived as a threat by placing himself behind her head and putting the foreign girl in a vulnerable position. He laid down over an arm's length away from the girl so that if either of them tried they would have to move to be able to reach the other person with their outstretched arm. The silence they fell into was more or less bearable, definitely not uncomfortable but not altogether pleasant. They were each wary of the other but made no outward indication of this. They both merely let the soft breeze move their hair and the bright sun to warm their faces. The only sound was that made by the wind in the leaves of the tree they sheltered under and the gentle and slow breathing of both people present.

Mai was not able to go back to sleep knowing that a stranger was next to her but at least she was still able to rest. Every now and then she would expand her senses and try to see if she could sense her sensei in the forest that surrounded this village. There was nothing. Either her sensei was hiding his chakra really well or he had gone so far into the forest that he was out of her range. She hoped and guessed that it was the latter but it still put her even more on edge. This only grew as the day got to its peak and more chakra signatures could be sensed coming towards the estranged pair. So much so that Mai opened both of her eyes and actually turned her head to see who was approaching. With any luck they were the team the boy had mentioned and were coming to take him away for something and would ultimately leave her in peace.

"Shikamaru!"

Mai openly cringed at the loud, feminine voice that screamed at an alarmingly high volume and pitch but she still wasn't about to get up from her spot. The unfamiliar name also meant that her assumption and hope was true and that the three people she could sense coming were indeed the team of the boy next to her, who had rolled onto his side away from the direction of the voice after hearing it. She couldn't blame him.

"Shikamaru!"

There it was again and it was getting louder.

"Shut up Ino,"

The boy, who was obviously called Shikamaru, mumbled this under his breath and it was only just loud enough for the cloud genin to hear. Not long after a blonde haired girl came marching over to the pair who were still lying on the ground. Mai had kept her eyes open while Shikamaru had his eyes closed and back to his teammate. The girl, who was most likely called Ino, did not look very happy. Her hands were bunched as fists at her sides and the look on her face was demonic with anger. She was definitely not happy. With all the grace of a raging bull Ino approached her unfortunate teammate and looked to be about to kick him in the back when she suddenly noticed the stranger lying next to Shikamaru. Her expression quickly changed from anger to surprise and confusion. Lowering her raised leg that was prepared to kick Shikamaru Ino then turned around and walked back the way she had come, looking back constantly at Mai who still had her eyes open and fixed on the retreating back of the blonde.

"She gone?"

Shortly after Mai lost sight of Ino Shikamaru asked his question with hope clear in his voice.

"Yeah, I think I scared her off,"

"Thanks, probably saved my ass,"

"Well she was about to kick it when she noticed me,"

Shikamaru gave a bit of a chuckle at this and thanked Mai again for her help with his annoying teammate. The silence they then went back into was a lot more comfortable than the one last time but this one didn't last for nearly as long as three people soon stood looming over them. Mai had closed her eyes again after she had finished talking to Shikamaru but was forced to open them again when Ino returned with, who Mai guessed as, their other teammate and sensei.

"Shikamaru. Who's your friend?"

The adult of the group, obviously their sensei, spoke to his lazy student but was not expecting the answer to come from the girl in question.

"What is it with everyone asking questions?"

This earned another quiet and short chuckle from Shikamaru who was the only one who understood what she was talking about. The two of them had basically only communicated with questions and he was the one who did all the asking. Mai's question also earned the attention of the adult who then reworded his previous question to aim it at her.

"Who are you?"

Mai went back to only having one eye open.

"Blunt. Nice. Mai Yukimura,"

"Asuma Sarutobi. You know Shikamaru and you've seen Ino before. This is Choji,"

The last part was referring to the stocky boy who stood next to Asuma who currently had his hand in a packet of chips but had yet to take one out and eat it, instead he seemed focused on Mai. With that everyone knew each other's name but Mai wasn't fazed about knowing them or not. It just meant that she could stop referring to them in her head by generic titles.

"I met another Sarutobi yesterday,"

"Really?"

"What?!"

Asuma and Ino both had a verbal response to this while Shikamaru, who was facing Mai with his back still to his team, opened his eyes and raised his eyebrow and Choji finally started eating his chips. Mai was prepared to admit that she had a bit of a sadistic and troublemaking streak in her that was more of a complete coating then a streak. This was just too easy and too much fun and no effort required. Perfect.


	2. 2 - Hide and Seek

Mai was having fun with this lot. Her reference to meeting the Hokage got good responses out of every one and only fuelled mischievous tendencies. She couldn't stop her laugh at their expressions but she also didn't make them suffer long.

"I ran into the old man yesterday. He seemed nice,"

The sensei of the team was the first to recover and also the first to join in her game.

"You know you shouldn't be so rude,"

"Yeah, but he seemed nice. Are you saying he would mind if he was called that? Are you saying that no one calls him that?"

"Well … no and no. I guess … How did you meet him anyway?"

Mai closed her eye again. They obviously weren't going to hurt her and she probably couldn't outrun the jonin if he attacked, and she would have an entire village of enemies as well if that happened, but at the very least she could take a hostage or two from the trio of Konoha genin. She wasn't terribly concerned though. It would cause a war if something like that happened and she was hoping this jonin at least would have the sense to realise this.

"I was resting at the top of that mountain when he showed up. We didn't talk much and he didn't tell me to leave. He just let me go to sleep and then gently nudged me awake when the sun started to set,"

"Why did you go to sleep up there?! Wasn't your team given an apartment to stay in or something?! You shouldn't be loitering around our village!"

"You're so loud Ino,"

"Agreed,"

Mai agreed with Shikamaru and then copied what he had done earlier and rolled onto her side so that her back was to the unnecessarily loud girl.

"Hey! What did you say?!"

"It's okay Ino. You shouldn't be so rude either,"

Asuma was trying to defuse the situation before it got out of control. At the moment the foreigner was acting as lazy and uncaring as his Nara student but if she was aggravated too far there was no way to tell if she would snap and show her strength. She was obviously considered capable enough by her village to take the exam.

"So what were you doing up there?"

This time it was a different voice and Mai assumed that it was the chip eating Choji who had finally spoken but she couldn't be bothered to roll back over to be sure.

"As I said I was sleeping,"

"But why up there?"

This time it was definitely Shikamaru who spoke. The questions were starting to get on Mai's nerves a little and she honestly couldn't believe that these guys just expected her to tell them everything about her. First it was her reasons for doing things and next it would be her entire life story. It got more irritating the more she thought about it.

"Kumo has a lot of mountains. Konoha has a lot of trees. The mountain makes me feel more at home. Is that an acceptable answer?"

"If you like the mountain so much then why aren't you sleeping up there now?!"

"Why do you guys get to ask all of the questions?"

"This is our village!"

"You want my id or something? Why can't you just leave me to rest?"  
"Now who's talking in questions?"

"You again,"

Shikamaru spoke up towards the end of Ino's rant and Mai had to be honest that she was having a little bit of fun making the blonde girl angry even if it did have an annoying outcome.

"Okay. Enough with the games,"

The Sarutobi to the rescue again. But he had caught onto Mai's fun which then ruined it. This would have to come with a consequence of some sort. Mai was good at those sort of things, her revenge was often served hot, quick yet still unexpected.

"Hey. Last question. Do you know any other good places to rest in your village?"

Mai had rolled onto her other side and opened her eyes again so that she was now facing Shikamaru and directing her question at him. He seemed to catch on as his eyes got a small spark in them, especially once Ino started going on about being ignored in what seemed to be her usual loud voice.

"Yeah. This place and the mountain are pretty good and there is a shaded bench a couple of streets over in between a couple of cafes. There isn't much foot traffic either so it's relatively quiet,"

"Nice. Thanks for the help,"

"No problem. Do you think you could give me some advice as well?"

"Depends what it is,"

"How would you get Ino to be quiet?"

Mai had to laugh at this as it only caused the girl in question to get even louder and angrier at the pair that were still lying on the grass. Mai quickly glanced upward just in time to see Asuma roll his eyes and start rubbing his forehead in pain, she also noticed that Choji was still eating the chips and obviously used to this sort of behaviour as he didn't do anything else but continue to eat as if he was enjoying the show or just really bored. The genin from the Village Hidden in the Clouds was about to impart some advice to her counterpart from the Village Hidden in the Leaves when her senses picked up something very frightening. During the conversation she wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings and so her radius of awareness had decreased. Now she suddenly felt the approaching presence of her sensei. Her surprise must have shown on her face as the shinobi from Konoha, not including Ino who was still ranting, stiffened. They may have been prepared for a fight if they thought her change in demeanour meant that she was going to attack but before most of them could blink she was on her feet and speeding away through the streets of the foreign village. Asuma Sarutobi was the only one of the four that was able to see her movements at all and also the only one who saw the person who passed through to chase after the scared girl. It got the Konoha jonin thinking and he felt some concern for the girl but knew that it wasn't wise to get involved with the workings of other villages unless it directly affected his village or its people. For the mean time neither of this criteria was met and so he would have to be content with ignoring the issue until a later time and focus now on getting his lazy Nara student motivated enough to do a little bit of training with the rest of his team before the Chunin Exam that was the next day.

* * *

Mai couldn't believe she had been so stupid! If she did something like that during the exam she could get herself or worse her teammates killed! She was supposed to be the leader; the responsible and mature one that looked out for Kazuki and Honoka. Mai would have to wait a bit longer before she could properly be angry at herself and think of ways to ensure that she never made the same mistake again. Hiroto was a lot faster than her and she would be in even more trouble if she allowed him to catch her. Right now she had to think of how to get her sensei off her trail and simultaneously had to think of another place she could hope to hide for the rest of the day. She didn't have a lot of hope for either of these things considering how close Hiroto was now behind her but she was also coated in a thick layer of stubbornness and giving up had never been taught to her by her beloved parents.

With this thought at the forefront of her mind Mai Yukimura raced through the village of Konoha and used up as much of her chakra as she could to make her go that little bit faster and give that few precious seconds more to think of her plan. It was these sort of situations that gave the Cloud genin valuable experience in thinking quickly in dangerous situations and was a large part of the reason why her teammates followed her without question in battle; they trusted her and her judgement. Mai only needed a couple of seconds to think of a few different ways she could solve her current predicament so then all she had to do was decided whether she wanted to take the easiest solution, the one that was the most fun or the one that would anger and annoy her sensei most. It was a difficult decision but the Yukimura was just as much sadistic as she was stubborn when it came to the man she hated.

Mai calculated how much chakra she could take away from her legs to decrease her speed but not have her sensei catch her. If Hiroto thought she was running out of chakra he might just try to keep her in his sight and wait for her to be overcome by exhaustion and then she wouldn't be able to fight back. If he did this then she may be able to surprise him and suddenly put chakra back into her legs and sprint away, giving her a bit more time and distance to do the rest of the steps needed for her plan. This time he would be more likely to look within the streets of the village for her which was exactly where she was going to be. Mai executed the first part of her plan perfectly and a brief glance backwards revealed the surprised expression of Hiroto which reinforced the fact that she would indeed gain a bit more time in the chase from this trick.

The little genin from Kumo found the spot that her lazy Konoha acquaintance had informed her about and agreed that it was quite a nice place indeed. The bench had a shelter built over it to block out the sun but not completely obscure the clear sky. It wouldn't be a smart move to lie down as she would have to race away again as soon as her sensei discovered, which if Mai had calculated correctly shouldn't be too long.

Now Mai's entire plan was formed around the fact that Hiroto Fujita was a self-centred, egotistical, arrogant man. If he thought that Mai was losing her edge or was exhausted or hadn't thought of a good plan he would want to boast about it and prove that she was inferior. This was his biggest fault besides making enemies with the surprisingly vengeful Yukimura. It was like when she decreased her speed to make him think she was becoming exhausted, he didn't speed up to catch her but slowed down also so that he could watch and wait for her to become so incredibly exhausted that he could gloat about her foolishness and weakness. The same thing was going to happen here. He would most likely still suspect that she was exhausted and had only put on a brief spurt of speed to get away from him and would not have the strength to go on if she was found again and so hide. She wasn't really trying to hide but Hiroto was too stupid to realise that.

As Mai predicted Hiroto found her relatively quickly and in his blind arrogance walked straight into her trap which was almost an exact replica of the one she had set up that very morning with the help of Kazuki and Honoka. He was too stupid to learn from his mistakes as in his mind he never made them.

When Hiroto got tied up and stuck in the wires Mai stole his weapons pouch, gave a wink, blew a raspberry and fled off back into the village. She purposefully didn't go at her top speed so that her sensei would foolishly continue to think she was becoming exhausted. Mai was enjoying this.

Even though Mai was having fun she still felt the compulsion to go and check in on her teammates. She knew that they were slightly competent in healing and that the scratches they got this morning would be nothing for them to fix but she still wanted to be sure. She was slightly overprotective and not afraid to admit this fact. Her next stop would be the temporary apartment that Konoha had given her team to stay in while they participated in the Chunin Exam. After that she would continue to run and hide, playing a more serious version of hide and seek with her evil sensei. For now she would check in with her friends. They were the reason for a lot of the things she did and in this case they were the reason she had tied up their sensei so that she knew she could have ample time to see Kazuki and Honoka. They were everything she had; they were all she had left.

* * *

Kazuki and Honoka both had blonde hair, and so did their sensei, which meant the black hair of Mai stood out like a sore thumb in their group. The difference between Kazuki and Honoka, besides gender, were their eyes. Kazuki had blue eyes and Honoka had green eyes. The appearance of this Kumo squad was quite funny and unusual when a closer inspection was done. There were two sets of blue eyes and two set of green eyes but the shades varied greatly between them. None of the eyes were truly the same. Kazuki's eyes were like clear ponds of pure, blue water, his eyes reflected his innocence and good nature. Which could explain why Hiroto's eyes were like buckets of polluted slime that were once upon a time some sort of water. From a distance they looked brown but they were just a dark and dirty blue. The shades of both Honoka and Mai's eyes were pleasant. Honoka's eyes were a much lighter shade of green than Mai's. Honoka's eyes reflected the green of the dew covered grass on a bright morning while Mai's were more related to the grass that rested in the shade of a large tree on the same morning.

"Hey guys! Long time no see,"

"Mai!"

Needless to say the trio were joyous and relieved to be reunited. They all needed that extra reassurance to believe that the others were alright. Their lives had conditioned them this way and it was going to be near impossible to break the habit.

"Is Hiroto following you?"

"Nah. He's currently tied up somewhere. We should have a few minutes,"

"Good because you are having lunch before you leave! Otherwise you will never eat!"

"Honoka, please don't yell. I'll have lunch. I'll have lunch. Geez,"

Kazuki tended to ask question and Honoka usually ended up yelling. Mai was just weird and the other two had more than gotten used to it by this point, the trio had known each other just about their whole lives anyway. The unique personalities of each of them complemented the others quite nicely when inspected closely. This and time made the bonds between them extremely strong. Just let death try and break them. He had failed in the past and would always continue to do so!

"Kazuki's cooking right?"

Mai wasn't above or beneath asking questions of her own either. Kazuki and Mai would occasionally make a game out of it just to annoy Hiroto, and sometimes Honoka. But the reasoning behind this particular question had nothing to do with this and everything to do with the fact that Kazuki's cooking was _amazing!_ If it wasn't for him the two girls would be living off nothing but instant ramen and the sparse trip to a small restaurant. The three of them were all orphans which was how they had met and a reason for their initial bonding.

Lunch was over too quickly for the liking of Mai, Kazuki and Honoka but they didn't want to take any chances when it came to their borderline homicidal supposed sensei. Mai was thankful that the other two hadn't been injured very much by what happened in the morning and now that she knew they were alright she would have one less thing to worry about for the rest of the day, meaning all of her effort could be directed at avoiding Hiroto for the remainder of the day.

This was the idea anyway.

As Mai jumped out the same window she had escaped through that morning she literally ran into the one person in the world she wanted to avoid.

"Yukimura!"

"So long Fujita!"

Or maybe not. Hiroto was done playing games with this particular student of his.

With this surprise encounter Mai had to rethink her escape plan but first had to recover from the hard kick to her stomach Hiroto gave her in greeting. Being winded and without time to think Mai then found herself pinned to the opposite wall to the window she had been using as a door the whole day by her insane sensei. Insane because he currently had her pinned with numerous kunai and an extra one placed at her throat. It may have been intimidating if it wasn't for the fact that Mai had already replaced herself with the pillows from bedrooms that she had already prearranged with Kazuki and Honoka to be near the kitchen-dining room in preparation for just such an occasion. With that Mai was once again out the window and off resuming the twisted version of hide and seek she would be playing with Hiroto for the rest of the day, and likely the rest of the time in Konoha.

Fun.

They had how long for the Chunin Exams to be over?

* * *

At this current point in time Mai was basically screwed. She was getting tired of running and hiding and more importantly she was tired of trying to outwit a jonin rank shinobi who was something like three times her own age. Mai didn't know what to do anymore. She could hope to find another place to hide and get another few hours of rest before being found but then she risked giving Hiroto an advantage if he did manage to find her. Last time she allowed him to find her on purpose but when she was resting under the tree she had let her guard down and had almost paid for it dearly. The other thing she had to worry about was being in an enemy village. She couldn't really use any jutsus without being considered a threat, she was barely able to use her speed enhancement and replacement jutsus without looking over her shoulder and expecting an army of Konoha shinobi to appear and execute her, possibly even the rest of her team as well. If they were back in Kumo she could use a numerous combinations to escape her sensei and remain hidden but the new terrain and restrictions were all working in Hiroto's favour.

"Damn,"

This was getting beyond annoying now.

No matter if she hid in the village or the surrounding forest Hiroto would eventually find her and his stamina and power were far greater than her own. The only thing she could claim to be slightly superior in is intellect but even then it wouldn't do her good if she was too tired and physically exhausted to do anything. Her traps would also only go so far as well in slowing her sensei down.

What to do. What to do. What to do. What to-

Uh oh.

Mai may have to learn to stop thinking and pay more attention to her surroundings. Hiroto was right behind. She didn't realise this until she got the kunai buried in the shoulder. Being the sensory ninja of the team meant that she should be able to multitask and be able to detect chakra signatures in her immediate surroundings as well as think about other things. Another thing to add to the list of improvements. Too bad she wouldn't be able to fix this before the exam started tomorrow but in all honesty the Chunin Exam was the least of her problems when she had to focus so intently on surviving the relentless attacks of her own sensei.

So much fort not causing a scene in an enemy village.

Mai must look very suspicious with a kunai in her shoulder and blood gushing down her arm. She now just had to hope that the native shinobi of this village didn't think she had started a fight with one of their own and decide to join in. One senile shinobi was hard enough to deal with.

 **Mai really had to stop thinking and focus more on what she was doing!**

While she was contemplating how much worse her situation could get she failed to notice the point at which it did. Once again she was felt something on her shoulder and then a tremendous pain.

"Hello dear,"

While flying through the Leaf Village using her speed enhancement someone had grabbed her uninjured shoulder and brought her to a stop by flinging her onto the ground. The force required to stop her speed was great and was transferred to her shoulder, luckily it only dislocated it.

"I apologise for your shoulder but what happened to the other one? I didn't suspect you as the type of person to cause this kind of trouble,"

"Hello Mr Sarutobi,"

"So you do remember me from yesterday it seems,"

"Yeah-"

"Mai!"

Mai was in no condition to deal with Hiroto. Both of her arms were useless and her attitude was getting worse with every inconvenience that occurred. If Hiroto didn't end up offending the Hokage and start a war then she probably would. This was not her day. She told the Raikage that this was a bad idea. He knew how much she distrusted Hiroto and how he would most likely act once she was away from the safety and guard of their village's Kage. She was blaming the Raikage for this. If she lived to see him again he was going to pay dearly. Not that she would be able to do anything to him… But still!

"You must be this young girl's sensei,"

The yelling didn't cause the old Hokage to miss a beat and if he was offended by anything he did act like it or show any other indication. The placid response did throw the Cloud jonin off guard however and Hiroto could hardly form a reply.

"Yes…"  
"Sorry about her injuries. I'll take her to the hospital and personally see that she gets attended to. No need to worry,"

"Yeah…"

With both Kumo ninja confused about what the elderly Sarutobi was going on about they didn't react in any form as Mai was picked up by a Leaf shinobi that was accompanying the Hokage and carried towards what must have been the direction of the hospital. Hopefully.

"We'll take good care of her. As I said before sorry about injuring her in the first place. My mistake. An accident I assure you. I will have a shinobi inform your other students that their teammate is in the hospital with some minor injuries. I will send another to you if it is decided that she has to stay the night. I assure you that she will be fully healed for the exam tomorrow,"

With this final bit of information given to Hiroto Hiruzen Sarutobi followed his shinobi to the hospital. This time Mai focused on her sensory skills to ensure that her sensei wasn't following them, not that the spineless coward had the courage to defy any of the Kage. Once far enough away Mai finally spoke.

"Thank you,"

The old man gave a deep chuckle, something that usually would have irritated the Yukimura but was almost comforting coming from this man.

"Take it as my apology for injuring your other shoulder and promise to tell me the interesting story behind that other shoulder of yours as well. Then we should be able to call it even,"

"…Thank you…"


	3. 3 - It Begins

The hospital in Konoha was nice but Mai wasn't exactly focusing on that right now. She was too busy mumbling mostly inaudibly to herself.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, sh-"

"What was that?"

"Ouch!"

"That's what I thought,"

Mai was discovering that not everyone was perfect and first impressions could be deceiving. This old man was turning out to be a pain in the ass after she initially thought he wasn't half bad. Yes he had been nice enough to help her out with her sensei but then dislocated her shoulder and then offered to get it patched up for her. But getting a shoulder relocated was painful no matter how many times it happened! Not to mention her irritability due to the blood loss and the concern for her teammates, if Hiroto got to them before the Leaf shinobi then they could be punished because of her. Again.

Even though she was obviously a genin from the Village Hidden in the Clouds from her distinctive headband hanging loosely around her neck nobody said a word of even seemed to look when she was carried into the hospital. This was either due to being carried by a high-ranked village ninja or being escorted in by the Hokage. One or the other. Wither way it allowed the avoidance of any awkward questions or stares.

The hospital room was like most others; pale, blank, plain and overall boring so as to not excite the patients and cause them to hurt themselves or some crap like that. It was a ninja hospital. You would assume that being shinobi that they would be capable of understanding that it was a bad idea to reopen wounds. You would also assume that they had better discipline as well. Oh well. It was their village after all. It was doubtful they would take interior decorating advice from a genin from a rival village. Very.

It wasn't very long after Mai had her shoulder relocated and then her other shoulder stitched up from the kunai wound given by her sensei that Kazuki and Honoka showed up, accompanied by two intimidating Konoha shinobi. They definitely would have deterred Hiroto from trying anything funny concerning her teammates. Good move old man.

"Mai!"

Said Cloud ninja just hoped that the now half a dozen native shinobi wouldn't attack and just accept the fact that attacking an injured teammate, predominately Mai, was more or less a tradition in their squad. This was the Yukimura's thought as she raced out of the bed she had been told to stay in, and obviously ignored, and ran around the room in circles as Honoka chased her with a kunai and Kazuki wandered over and sat on the end of the bed that Mai had recently vacated in favour of her life. The next thought through Mai's head once it was clear that nobody was trying to kill Honoka was that she was thankful that she hadn't been given a sedative or anaesthetic or anything like that because even in her current un-drugged state she was almost being killed by her beloved female teammate.

It was a little funny. The Sarutobi seemed to think so given his chuckles. The other shinobi didn't appear to care or even be concerned with the presence of two young girls playing tag with kunai and weaving in and out of said heavily armed ninja. It wasn't until Mai found safety behind Kazuki and Honoka was convinced by said boy to stop trying to kill her best friend that the room calmed down again and turned from fun to serious with a simple stop of an old man laughing.

"Now that you lot have gotten that out of your systems I believe I am owed an explanation,"

No question and borderline demand, except in a surprisingly nonthreatening voice.

"Long story short. Our sensei hates us and tries to kill us at every opportunity. Can I leave now?"

The look from the Hokage was one of disappointment and even if he tried to hide it these three in particular had become masters of distinguishing this expression from most facial features. They received it a lot from Hiroto and when they were younger got it from just about every adult they came across. The old man was about to speak, probably to encourage more details of the story from the Cloud trio, when the door to the room unexpectedly opened. Mai had learnt from her mistakes throughout the day and had been keeping an eye, so to speak, on the chakra signatures around them, which was difficult given the concentration of chakra in this building, but never thought that someone would actually come through the door. She assumed that nobody would be coming in to see them. It was _them_ after all. Nobody ever cared. Saying that a group of Konoha shinobi did walk through the door and caused the hokage to halt in whatever he was about to say to politely tell Mai she was not leaving the hospital and try to convince her to tell some sort of story concerning her sensei. There were quite a few exciting ones to say the least.

"You called,"

"Hello Asuma,"

The younger Sarutobi obviously hadn't expected to see her again let alone see her in the same room as his father and be the reason why he and some of the other Leaf senseis had been called to the hospital room.

"I'm afraid to ask,"

"He did it!"

Mai pointed at the Hokage and then proceeded to quickly hide behind the poor Kazuki. He made a good shield in most situations, given it wasn't a real battle then anyone who aimed at him would find themselves ripped limb from limb by both girls.

Anyway.

It then led to the four sensei, Asuma, a woman with black hair, a man with weird black hair and a man with weird silver hair, grabbing a seat and sitting around the bed where the trio were making themselves comfortable. The Hokage had a seat facing the end of the hospital bed with two of the senseis taking a seat on each side of the bed. Essentially the trio were boxed in with the bodyguards of the Hokage stationed at the windows and door as well.

Wonderful.

"Now that we're all here I think we need a proper explanation,"

"Good idea! Why are these four here and who are they?"

All the time spent with Hiroto meant that Mai had learned a long time ago not to hold any punches, either physically or verbally. How else was she supposed to get what she needed? Hiroto wasn't exactly forthcoming with information and even if it was a mission the trio usually had to guess what they were actually supposed to do. Another way Hiroto tried to get them killed on a regular basis. It also meant that Mai, Kazuki and Honoka had next to no fear and little sense of self-preservation. All of their efforts went towards saving each other with no consideration for their own well-being. That was just how this Cloud team functioned.

The most that happened was a mini wrestling match between the three genin as two of them tried to cover the smart ass mouth of the third member.

"These four are senseis of genin squads that this village has entered into the Chunin Exam,"

This got their attention and they stopped what they were doing to look at and listen to the old man. Mai was upside down with her legs hanging over one of Kazuki's shoulders while her back rested on Honoka's stomach. Kazuki was sitting on his knees with Honoka laying on her back in front of him and Mai draped over the two of them in a way that made it surprising that she hadn't broken her neck. But it was surprisingly comfy. In other words, Mai wasn't going to be bothered to move unless the other two did it for her.

Hiruzen Sarutobi blinked at the unusual antics of the young trio in front of him but then continued on with what he had to say. If they had stopped moving around, trying to kill each other?, then it must mean they were listening.

"They may have to keep an eye on your sensei if it is likely he will interfere with the exam and put others at risk,"

Laughter was not the answer that the Hokage had been expecting from the children in front of them.

"He doesn't have the guts for that,"

"Yeah,"

"He's the biggest coward ever! He only goes after those that are weaker than him. As soon as some big shot shows up he turns tail and runs. He's done this a couple of times during missions as well. Don't worry yourselves over it. It's our problem and we are more than capable of looking after ourselves. The skills gained from being orphans I guess. Even if he does try to frame your village, as I said, the Raikage won't believe him. In other words this problem has very little to do with you,"

After the first sentence Mai was able to pull herself together in order to give a, more or less, proper explanation. It was what the old guy wanted anyway.

"I see,"

The Hokage needed to think a little about this information but it was unlikely he would get that chance while in the same room as these children.

"So is it okay if we stay in this room until tomorrow?"

"I do believe that is what I said, yes,"

"When are you guys going to leave?"

"Mai!"  
Honoka tried to hiss this at her friend but being Honoka it was still extremely loud and being Mai she took no notice of it.

"Once you give a bit more of an explanation as to _why_ your sensei seems determined to kill you,"

"Okay. Our sensei hates us and tries to kill us at every opportunity but is usually stopped in our own village because most are aware that he is homicidal and the Raikage has told him that he isn't allowed to kill us but this doesn't always stop him unless the big guy is actually around and for some reason he granted sensei's request for us to come to this Chunin Exam even though it is a really bad idea because, as you saw earlier, Hiroto now has every opportunity available to try and kill us and most likely blame it on you but I doubt the Raikage will believe him anyway but still agreed to send us to our deaths either by sensei or the exam itself because our sensei never trains us so we have to learn things ourselves which means we probably aren't ready for this which Hiroto may be counting on as another way to kill us without getting in too much trouble himself… I think that mostly sums it up. Wait! … We don't really know why he hates us but he just does and we just have to deal with it I guess. Yep. Done,"

"Very well,"

With this the Hokage stood up and left with the other Konoha shinobi following closely on his heels. Besides Asuma at the beginning, none of the senseis had said anything throughout the entire, and admittedly strange, conversation. Mai was right about one thing. The issues of the Village Hidden in the Clouds had nothing to do with the Village Hidden in the Leaves and if anything the Hokage had been trying to interrogate sensitive information out of the children. No matter how unfair it seemed. Mai also wasn't that stupid either. All the Hokage had learned was that Hiroto Fujita was crazy and had it in for his students for some reason. Of course the trio knew the reason but it was far too sensitive for even some shinobi in their own village let alone a rival village. Before Mai became an orphan her clan had specialised in information. She had been partially raised to covert knowledge, learned how to bend words to fit part of the truth and how to be as disarming as possible. After all, who would suspect that a team that fought amongst itself would be able to work together to do anything or that a little girl who couldn't control her sassy tongue in fact knew exactly what she was doing. No one. Hopefully.

* * *

The night passed uneventfully with the trio fully aware of the Konoha shinobi, likely ANBU, stationed around the outside of the room. With this in mind they kept their discussions away from what had been transpiring since entering the Village Hidden in the Leaves and focused on the pressing matter of the coming events of the next day.

That day was now today.

"You ready?!"

Honoka Minami was as enthusiastic as always and her yelling and fist-bumping in the air was not appropriate behaviour in a hospital. Not that she would have thought that far ahead or possibly even cared. The only person she knew who was in here was Mai and Honoka knew that her teammate was perfectly fine. Slightly sore shoulders but the trio had been forced to fight in much worse condition before. No problem.

As usual Kazuki Akabane said nothing to this and just plain ignored that it was even going on. He was more than happy to continue to inspect and prepare his weapons for the upcoming Exam. Kazuki was the type of person that would much rather do something then waste his time simply talking about it because usually talking achieved nothing, and if it was relevant than he left it up to his two female teammates who were much more skilled in this area.

Mai Yukimura was also undisturbed by this commotion, even as it got larger as Honoka noticed Kazuki ignoring her. Mai would much rather spend her time resting because once she was awake she usually had to start doing things. Which was never fun. Once she was awake she usually had to start solving a million and one problems. It was always wiser to conserve energy rather than waste it unnecessarily.

This summed up the Genin Cloud team and also what was going on in the hospital room. It was hectic and confusing to outsiders but the trio knew how well this dynamic worked. They didn't really know why but they were happy to accept that it worked without many questions, except maybe Mai as she always sort the answer. To anyone it was pure chaos taking physical form. This image did help the team in creating doubt and underestimation in their opponents. Who would believe that a team like this could accomplish anything? The hopeful point was no one.

They spent the morning in the hospital room preparing for the day. They had no idea what to expect but that was half the point of the Chunin Exam. Basically they did the best they could to be prepared for anything and in this respect both Kazuki and Mai had to lend Honoka some assistance. But that was what the team was for. So when the time came to finally make their way to the rendezvous of the first stage of the Exam there was once again an organised chaos surrounding the three children.

"Do you know where the building is?!"

"Let's just check out of the hospital first,"

"And you may need to lower your voice Honoka. This is a hospital after all,"

"You're so mean Kazuki!"

"Honoka. Please?"

" _For you Mai of course_ ,"

There were often snarky remarks exchanged between Kazuki and Honoka but those two had known each other even before they formed a team, unofficial at the time given they were all very young, with Mai. The main point Mai wanted to take away from this was that Honoka had agreed to be quiet for the time being and so long as Kazuki didn't antagonise her any further it would hopefully stay that way until they reached the allocated building for the start of the Chunin Exam. It would then become crazy once again as the excitement reignited in Honoka and most likely the other two more docile members of the team as well. It was an exciting thing after all. No matter how much their sensei tried to spoil it. It was still an opportunity for the three of them to prove themselves worthy of a promotion to the rank of Chunin. The Raikage must have faith in them if he authorised their participation and if even one of them was able to make it to the next rank then the entire trio would be free of the cruelty of Hiroto.

Their business with Hiroto was serious and complicated. The Raikage and a couple of others were confidant to this information but besides that it had been agreed to by this small number that this precarious knowledge would be kept a secret. For the safety of the trio and possibly even the village if things escalated out of control.

It was an interesting story but one that could never be told unless life or death was struggling for control before your eyes and even then Mai would be the only one able to make that decision. It only affected the others because they had chosen to follow her and stay by her sides. They only knew because Mai believed they deserved to know how treacherous their life would become if they truly wanted to stay by her side.

This was what Mai meant! Every waking minute she was thinking about something else besides what was immediately occurring! This was what had caused her trouble yesterday! If she wasn't careful it could get her or worse her teammates killed during this exam. Mai really had to learn to control her mind. Put it on a tighter leash so that it stopped trying to run away, but not too tight as it was still her greatest asset and she couldn't afford to restrict something so important at a crucial time such as this.

Anyway!

"Freedom!...Where do we go now?!"

They had made their way out of the hospital without any incident but as soon as they passed through the door Honoka went back to her usual loud self. It really couldn't last forever.

"We just need to head towards the mountain,"

"The one with the faces?!"

"Yes,"

"Let's go!"

They did a slow ninja run towards the mountain as they knew they had heaps of time before they were required to attend the Exam, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Kazuki was silent and Honoka was chatty. Mai sat comfortably in the middle as she only occasionally spoke in reply to some of Honoka's numerous questions. They were all curious and excited, they just had different ways of expressing it. It was better to be excited than scared and this last emotion was at the back of all of their minds. It was always worrying to run head long into something but have no idea what you were really getting yourself into. It was nerve-wracking but they had been trained and conditioned to overcome the normal instinct to panic and run away. Instead they turned it into the curiosity and excitement they now felt and ran towards it.

Conditioning. Never quite sure if it could be considered a good or a bad thing.

Bad that they now instinctly went towards danger or good that they would have a clear mind to deal with the problems ahead.

* * *

"Cool building!"  
Honoka was predictably impressed by the huge building that the first part of the Chunin Exam had been assigned to. Kazuki and Mai were amazed as well in their own ways but weren't about to announce it to the world.

"Kazuki. Honoka…You two ready?"  
Mai thought it would be a good idea to address her teammates before they went in. they had been told to assemble on the third floor but there was no way to tell whether the Exam could or would start as soon as they crossed the threshold of the building.

Even if the boy and other girl hadn't thought of this beforehand it was obvious what Mai meant and it didn't take long for them to figure it out. It showed a lot about the connections within the team if they were able to discern the thoughts of their teammates from a few single words, tones and gestures. This realisation caused the atmosphere around them to fill with a tiny amount of tension and apprehension.

It was time to get serious.

"Let's go!"  
It was Mai once again who spoke and this time she took a page out of Honoka's book and did it with a bit more enthusiasm and volume than what was considered normal for the black haired Cloud Genin.

It worked. The expressions on both Kazuki and Honoka's faces changed. The excitement was back and a larger spark shone in their bright eyes.

They were all ready. They had worked hard to become stronger and prepared intensely for this moment. It was time to prove that the Raikage's faith was true.

"Let's Go!"

All three of them yelled simultaneously this time. After this point they would have to serious, professional, observant and more quite. It was nice for them to get it all out of their systems beforehand.

A few laughs and strange stares later they made their way into the building where their mission would officially start.

Win the Chunin Exam.

There were a couple of other teams that appeared to have the same intentions of arriving early as this particular Cloud team did. This meant that when Mai, Kazuki and Honoka were making their way through the winding, twisting and confusing maze of hallways and stairs in an attempt to make it to the third floor they saw quite a few of their competition. Luckily they were able to avoid any confrontations as the only objective at the moment was navigating the building and making it to the appointed room before the deadline. This fortunately meant that no one wanted to waste any unnecessary energy on any of the other teams they encountered in the hallway. The only thing that really occurred was a brief observation of the other team to try and figure out if they were going the right way or about to walk into another dead-end.

For strategic purposes this building was purposefully constructed in this confusing manner and so having home ground advantage would truly be helpful in this situation as the Leaf teams would have memorised the layout of the building without even trying or realising it over the numerous years they would have spent wandering around the building. For foreigners and outsiders it was a deliberate nightmare. There wasn't even any logical sense to where the stairs would be for the next level of the building. Mai had already tried all of those options. None of them worked. It was lucky that they had left themselves plenty of time to make it to the third floor because it seemed that they would need every one of those spare seconds.

"I remember you!"

There was only one other young female that Mai knew that was unnecessarily loud and she had only met her the day before.

"Ino don't yell,"

"Shut up Shikamaru!"  
Yep. Definitely her.

Ino reminded Mai of Honoka but Mai wasn't sure whether the two of them would get along or if same charges repel.

Mai guessed it wouldn't hurt to get some insider help but better to be as inconspicuous as possible. Hopefully Honoka would realise this. With that in mind Mai Yukimura turned around to see the trio of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji.

This Konoha team approached the Cloud team with Kazuki and Honoka being the only ones who didn't have any idea of what was going on. Mai knew and they both knew that Mai knew so they weren't going to make a scene yet. Not until something went wrong or they got a signal from their unwillingly appointed leader.

"Need some help?"

"Maybe,"

In a weird turn of events Shikamaru and Mai found themselves facing off against one another but not in a confrontational manner. Kazuki and Honoka were still confused but nonetheless stood confidently behind Mai. Ino and Choji on the other hand were slightly different, Ino was openly confused while Choji appeared to be indifferently eating potato chips from a packet he held although this should have been read as relying on Shikamaru to make the best judgement in this situation.

It was a peculiar situation.


End file.
